On March 17, Tim wrote:
>Are Packard Bell, AST, and HP (SYSF/Radish customers)
>aware of the following memo in Microsoft's Hardware
>Newsletter sent to developers in February 1997?
>
>"Update on VoiceView Technology and Windows--
>VoiceView is not supported in Windows NT 4.0 and is not
>planned for Windows NT 5.0. As stated in PC 97 Hardware
>Design Guide, VoiceView is obsolete technology that is not
>recommended for simultaneous voice/data (SVD) integration.
>
>Microsoft plans to remove VoiceView INFs from future
>versions of Unimodem."
I'd like to reply. So that you are aware of my bias, I am a SystemSoft employee and I was a Radish employee. I am also, however, just a lowly developer, and you should not take anything I say here as an official company statement.
Is VoiceView really obsolete, as Microsoft claims? That really depends on your point of view. Certainly there are newer standards for voice and data that are truly simultaneous, such as DSVD. DSVD is also much more expensive and I don't see many OEMs shipping DSVD modems. VoiceView is cheap enough that OEMs can add it too their bundled modem and justify the cost as saving on support.
Does it matter that Microsoft will no longer support VoiceView? Only in intangible ways. This discussion is a good example. It seems pretty common for people to equate Microsoft's announcement as a death knell for VoiceView software. From a PR perspective Microsoft's announcement is important. From a technical perspective it is not. Radish (and now SystemSoft) has never used Microsoft's VoiceView software anyway, and we will continue to work just fine without Microsoft. (My personal opinion is that Microsoft's VoiceView support was never very good anyway.)
You should also ask yourself, "What would continued VoiceView support buy Microsoft?" VoiceView is very useful for technical support, and certainly Microsoft does a lot of that. However, Microsoft cannot influence whether a customer even has a modem, much less decide what features that modem has. An OEM can.
I have also heard the claim that VoiceView is made obsolete by Internet phones such as NetMeeting. This is ludicrous. Most computer owners don't have Internet access. (The last figure I heard was 9%) How many of those also have a microphone? I don't have one. Also, consider the implications for tech support, and how much of your system has to be working to use an Internet phone. Forget using it for tech support if your sound card, speakers or microphone aren't working. Furthermore, an Internet phone only gives you a conversation. It doesn't help diagnose or solve the problem anymore than a regular telephone.
Finally, VoiceView is just a protocol. The real value is in the software that uses VoiceView. Our tech support software has a proven track record of increasing call efficiency. This, coupled with SystemWizard's call deflection makes a great combination. (And if it is still an issue, our software also supports DSVD.) |
